Lottery revenues down almost $13MFinance minister Jeannot Volpé says smoking ban may be to blame for decreaseBy Kathy KaufieldTelegraph-Journal

FREDERICTON - New Brunswick's ban on smoking in public places is likely to blame for an almost $13-million drop in lottery revenues this year.

This week's provincial budget shows the government is projecting a $12.8-million loss in 2005-06, including both video lottery terminal and lotto ticket sales.

Finance Minister Jeannot Volpé said Thursday that final numbers for the fiscal year aren't available yet, so he doesn't know whether the drop came in VLT revenue or ticket sales. But he said it's most likely VLT revenue that's on the decline because of the province's decision in October 2004 to ban smoking in public places.

That may have prompted some VLT players to either stop plugging the machines or to take their business from the province's licensed bars and restaurants to some First Nations communities that have VLTs and allow smoking.

"Maybe there are some people just shifting (to First Nations communities). We don't know yet. We will have to assess," Mr. Volpé said.

The province has revenue sharing agreements for gaming with several First Nations communities; the majority of profits made from VLT machines on reserves stay with the reserve rather than go to the province's coffers.

Mr. Volpé said the province can't force First Nations communities to ban smoking to level the playing field because they come under federal jurisdiction.

"We are trying to discuss with them and convince or whatever but at the end of the day, they are the ones who decide," he said.

The province estimated $122.9 million in lottery revenue in 2005-06, but this week's budget showed revised projections at only $110.1 million.

The numbers mark the first significant drop in lottery revenue in years. The only other drop in recent years came in 2001 when revenues fell by $100,000.

Mr. Volpé added that some of the drop could also be attributed to recent anti-VLT public awareness campaigns.

In 2005, Saint John resident Tim Smith staged two hunger strikes in front of the legislature in a bid to raise public awareness about VLT addiction and to push the province for changes to its VLT policy.

"Maybe (the public awareness campaigns) are also part of it. We don't know exactly. We are just trying to best guess," he said.

Mr. Volpé said the province had to make adjustments in its budget to make up for the lost revenue but that's just par for the course in a $6.2-billion budget.

The minister said the province isn't sure if the lottery revenue will bounce back next year so the government decided to be prudent and budget for the lower amount in 2006-07 too.

Despite the drop in revenue, Mr. Volpé said the province made the right decision by banning smoking in public places.

He said down the road the move will save health-care dollars because the province will see fewer cases of lung cancer.

"I think it is a good investment," he said.

Darlene Doucet, spokeswoman for the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, said Thursday New Brunswick retailers noted an immediate drop in sales after the smoking ban came into effect but because the final numbers aren't in yet, she's not sure if that trend continued for the entire year.

Newfoundland bar owners reported a 20-per-cent drop in VLT revenue when that province implemented a smoking ban last year.

When ALC president and CEO Michelle Carinci appeared before a legislative committee earlier this month, she said the corporation is expecting lower profits in 2006 for the first time in 30 years.

She linked the drop to the smoking bans in New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

CAST YOUR BREAD UPON THE WATERS, FOR AFTER MANY DAYS YOU WILL FIND IT AGAIN. GIVE PORTIONS TO SEVEN, YES TO EIGHT, FOR YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT DISASTER MAY COME UPON THE LAND. ( ECCLESIASTES 11:1-2 *NIV )

Dear Charles, Many people have wondered what is meant by "Cast your bread upon the water, and you will find it." Well, it is An old Hebrew Idiom meaning to give to charity and it will be returned to you.

After all it is written; HE WHO IS KIND TO THE POOR LENDS TO THE LORD, AND HE WILL REWARD HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE. ( PROVERBS 19:17 ) This is because; THERE WILL ALWAYS BE POOR PEOPLE IN THE LAND. THEREFORE I COMMAND YOU TO BE OPENHANDED TOWARD YOUR BROTHERS AND TOWARD THE POOR AND NEEDY IN YOUR LAND. ( DEUTERONOMY 15:11 )

So Charles, always remember those who are in need, and the homeless among us; SO THE POOR HAVE HOPE, AND INJUSTICE SHUTS ITS MOUTH. ( JOB 5:16 ) After all our Savior Jesus Christ said; "I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, WHAT- EVER YOU DID FOR ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE BROTHERS OF MINE, YOU DID FOR ME." Amen. ( MATTHEW 25:40 )

Ok…I had a very hyper day. It all started this morning when myself and Millie tried to figure out what to do with Lisa’s case? The case worker from New Brunswick Family are not treating this individual in a proper manner so we have to go to step two!!!

I told Millie to write a letter and I will hand delivered the urgent message to the Minister of Family Service Madeleine Dube.

Millie came to my room in 20 minutes with the letter in hand.

It sure didn’t take long.

I bumped into Abel LeBlanc and we both walked towards the New Brunswick Legislature.

Once there, I handed the letter to the Commissionaire from Quebec but he told me that they’re not a post office so therefore he couldn’t deliver my mail to the Minister desk.

Once outside, I noticed in the parking lot Joan MacAlpine-Stiles.

She’s a Minister in the Lord Government so I confronted her and said - I feel like a sheriff!! Here’s your summon!!

She told me that she’ll handed the letter to Madeleine Dube.

As bad luck would have it? Around 20 minutes later, I noticed the Education Minister coming out from a Van.

We had a little chat about Lisa’s case.

She told me that she couldn’t phone Millie because of a confidently issue.

I wasn’t thinking straight so I agreed with her that it was up to the poor woman to speak on behalf of herself.

While walking home? I began to think that it was a too easy answer.

There must be something that can be done?

Then it hit me? Lisa has been condemned by family Services so therefore her self esteem is way down.

What about those people with huge mental problems?

They can’t speak for themselves so who can voice their concerns?

I went home and told Millie. I decided to walk into Brad Green office and asks for a paper that Lisa would sign giving Millie the right to speak with the Government officials on her behalf.

Lisa is not in good shape! She looks tired and weak!

She has a difficult time walking up the stairs a couple of times during the day.

This is a real sad case!!!

Lisa signed the papers.

Afterwards, I was once again on my way towards the Legislature to hunt down my Minister friend.

Once there, I handed the note to a bureaucrat which he promised me that he will hand over the paper to Madeleine Dube.

I told the guy – You better!!!! I’ll blog ya!!!...lol…

So? The Minster has both papers and all we need to do is wait for someone with a heart to call!!!

Tomorrow? We will call it – DAY 1!!!

The Minister has a very good heart so lets see what’s going to happen???

Also remember that; NO TEMPTATION HAS OVER- TAKEN YOU EXCEPT SUCH IS COMMON TO MAN; BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL, WHO WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BE TEMPTED BEYOND WHAT YOU ARE ABLE, BUT WITH THE TEMPTATION WILL ALSO MAKE THE WAY OF ESCAPE, THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO BEAR IT. ( 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13 )

So Charles, the next time you are tempted do not give in, instead; SUBMIT TO GOD. RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU. ( JAMES 4:7 )

NOW TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO KEEP YOU FROM STUMBLING, AND TO PRESENT YOU FAULTLESS BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY WITH EXCEEDING JOY, TO GOD OUR SAVIOR, WHO ALONE IS WISE, BE GLORY AND MAJESTY, DOMINION AND POWER, BOTH NOW AND FOREVER. AMEN ( JUDE 24-25 )

I was in the room with her when she received the call and they did tell her they had nothing to tell her.

There was no housing available for her.

I was listening beside her and the lady on the phone was not concerned. I hugged her and said I would try to help her to find a place.

She cannot go on living here because we have stairs, and she is so sick all the time.

This is not the place for a person like her. I called places, but she cannot climb up and down stairs.

She was robbed and I had to call the police. The poor lady had a hard time to talk to the police.

I had to speak for her when she couldn't for she was crying.

I don't know what to do anymore, she is scared, crying and she will have a nervous breakdown if nothing is done. I told her to set up a tent in front of family and community services, then maybe she will get help.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Child prescriptions for the behavioural drug Ritalin rocketed again in the UK last year. But is this down to wider treatment of attention disorders, or a more disturbing trend of keeping kids under control with psychoactive drugs?Impulsiveness, restlessness and hyperactivity, as well as inattentiveness are symptoms of ADHD and often prevent children from learning and socialising well.Figures from the Department of Health show that in 2002, approximately 208,000 prescriptions were issued for the drug Ritalin – an amphetamine given in tablet form – in order to tackle attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This was up from 158,000 in 1999, 127,000 in 1998 and 92,000 in 1997.

Despite tough guidelines from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) for the prescription of Ritalin, its escalating use in UK kids shows no sign of abating. But is this because we are recognising and treating a larger number of children with behavioural problems – or is it that the temptation to control unruly or disruptive children by giving them a simple pill has proved too seductive?

Sit up and pay attention

There is little doubt that some children have attention disorders. It is a loosely defined condition, identified by observable symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

While these behaviours are observable in all children at some point, some possess them so regularly and to such a high degree that it impairs their natural development. Untreated, such behavioural problems can lead to low self-esteem, emotional and social problems and educational under-performance.

There is also little doubt that drugs such as Ritalin have a fast and noticeable effect on those with attention disorders. The few studies that have been done in this area all point to the use of psychoactive drugs as an extremely effective way of tackling the problem and better than other more traditional methods, such as a change in diet or behavioural therapy.

However, the experience of the drug in the US has caused wide concern. Critics say it is over-prescribed and is actually damaging children at an important and vulnerable period of their development. Tabloid stories abound that the drug is turning kids into zombies – but with prescription levels in some schools running at more than 30 per cent, the question over whether Ritalin has become a shortcut to dealing with overactive kids is a valid one.

It is not one that Andrea Bilbow – founder of Attention Deficit Disorders Information Services (ADDISS) – has any doubts over, however. 'The increase in numbers has been over-exaggerated greatly,' she says – explaining that because of monthly prescription renewals, the number of prescriptions issued should be divided by 12 to find out how many children are actually taking Ritalin. 'This is a condition that has been ignored for many years, but as doctors become more aware, more children are diagnosed,' she says.

Andrea says there are anywhere between 350,000 and 400,000 children in the UK with ADHD, yet only 28,000 to 30,000 of them have been diagnosed so far. With that assumption, Ritalin and similar drug prescriptions will continue to increase for some time until it reaches all the children who would benefit from its use.

This is certainly the case in the US where, on average, 4 per cent of children take the drug. However, while attention deficit disorders are known to be evenly distributed across communities, races and social levels, a recent US study showed prescription levels varied hugely across the country – suggesting that prescription of the drug is affected by many more factors than diagnosis of ADHD.

US levels are between 10 and 30 times higher than in the UK because of official guidelines for prescribing. But while these guidelines are widely respected and followed, they are not binding and doctors are free to prescribe as they wish. While we have yet to approach anywhere near the same levels as the US, the increases every year worry many.

What is Ritalin?

Ritalin is a stimulant – an amphetamine – which may seem an odd choice for dealing with children who are hyperactive. However, it works by spurring children to take more interest in the things around them. With this interest satisfied, children are far less likely to become bored and restless, and so conversely are able to concentrate and don’t feel the need to act impulsively to keep themselves stimulated.

But, disturbingly, one study found that the effect of the drug itself on the mind is comparable with the effect of cocaine. While cocaine is taken very quickly into the bloodstream and provides a sudden hit, Ritalin is swallowed in tablet form and so works over a much longer period. The hit isn’t there, but the effects – and the side effects – are, it seems.

Advocates for the drug argue that the worst side effects Ritalin causes are loss of appetite, insomnia and headaches, but that they reduce over time. Any other problems can be solved by reducing the dose. Opponents, however, say the drug makes kids robotic, lethargic, withdrawn and depressed.

Dr Peter Breggin, a psychiatrist at the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, in the US, is an outspoken critic of Ritalin. He says that the drug, far from helping, actually causes damage to the brain of a developing child by decreasing blood flow.

'Ritalin does not correct biochemical imbalances – it causes them,' he says, further alleging that negative research results are being suppressed to protect the enormous profits from the sale of the drug.

Glass houses

But Andrea dismisses this argument. 'There are only about two professionals in the whole of America that think this is a bad thing,' she says. As for the accusation that parents are somehow happy to drug their kids for an easy life, Andrea is furious. 'People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Parents are very angry about the negativity around this – these parents love their children and want what is best for them.'

The problem with both arguments is that there remains surprisingly little evidence to point one way or the other. The drug itself has been around for a relatively short time, meaning that any long-term effects are still unknown. And while doctors, psychiatrists and parents are bound to be extremely concerned about giving children daily doses of drugs, so far the only firm evidence we do have is that the treatment works.

When a drug could change your life and that of your child right now, would you be prepared to wait until scientific papers tell you it’s okay? Andrea has certainly decided. 'When you see how thousands of children’s lives are transformed, how can you deny them that help?'

Hours later, I received this email -National Energy BoardInformation SessionsThe National Energy Board (NEB) is the federal agency that regulates interprovincial and international pipelines across Canada. You may have heard about the NEB in relation to pipeline projects that may be proposed in your region. NEB staff will be hosting sessions to provide information about the Board’s mandate, the public hearing procedure and how you can participate. A brief presentation on the Board’s hearing process will be followed by an opportunity to ask questions.Tuesday, 4 April 2006Delta Brunswick Hotel39 King Street, Saint John, NB

NEB staff will be available from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. with presentations at 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.For more information, please contact Michèle Luit or Carole Léger-Kubeczek at 1-800-899-1265, or visit our website at www.neb-one.gc.ca .

I heard a story that Hitler ordered these pills to train his soldiers but I guess this is not true!!!!

Consumer HealthPed Med: ADHD treatments then and now

By LIDIA WASOWICZUPI Senior Science Writer

SAN FRANCISCO, March 29 (UPI) -- The current reliance on drugs as a preferred treatment for childhood behavioral problems has its roots in an accident waiting to happen more than half a century ago.On that day in 1937, a young psychiatrist named Dr. Charles Bradley, just five years out of his residency, noted a "spectacular change in behavior" in 14 of 30 children given Benzedrine for a week to ease headaches suffered from a painful and now obsolete medical procedure.

The chance discovery was the first clinical observation of the effect of stimulant medication on hyperactive children. It would alter the course of pediatric behavioral treatment, which at the time centered on talk therapy. The drug proved no analgesic for the children who, as part of their evaluation, had the cerebrospinal fluid drained from their brain and replaced with air for a clearer X-ray picture. However, in an unexpected turn, for some of the youngsters, it became the "arithmetic pill" that helped them settle into their schoolwork.

A quarter of a century would pass before anyone attempted to replicate the observations made by Bradley at the nation's first neuropsychiatric hospital for children, the Emma Pendleton Bradley Home -- now Bradley Hospital -- in East Providence, R.I. It would be another 25 years before stimulants took their place as a staple of treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Today, from among a multitude of options -- from numerous medications to behavior-changing strategies to educational approaches to combination therapies -- they are what the doctor orders most often.

Speedily producing dramatic effects, stimulants like Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta are the professionals' No. 1 choice for the estimated 2.5 million ADHD-diagnosed children managed with medication.

Recommended as a front-line drug treatment by such medical powerhouses as the American Academy of Pediatrics, psychostimulants nevertheless sport a Jekyll and Hyde persona.

On the one hand, studies attest to their ability to sharpen concentration and focus and dull impulsivity and rashness in 60 percent to 80 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD.

On the other, evidence exists of the devastation wrought by misuse of the potent narcotics, which the Drug Enforcement Agency classifies, along with opium and cocaine, as dangerously addictive and highly prone to abuse Schedule II controlled substances.

Even with appropriate application, the pharmaceuticals can raise the risks for a cascade of costly consequences, from stunted growth in some children who lose their appetite to psychosis in those whose existing mental illness worsens with treatment.

Earlier this month a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee was told of a small number of children suffering hallucinations of snakes, worms, bugs and other creepy crawlies after taking the drugs.

A preliminary FDA report released last month tentatively linked stimulant medications to deaths and cardiovascular and other serious problems in fewer than one case per million prescriptions written.

No causative relationship has been established in either case, but two panels of experts agreed parents, patients and physicians should be alerted to the potential risks in a tiny fraction of those treated with the drugs -- a risk the pharmaceutical companies say is about equal to that faced by the general population.

Equally varied are youngsters' responses to the medicines, which doctors often dole out on a trial-and-error basis, having to switch doses, then drugs, before fixing upon the right formula.

Specialists stress no definitive pattern of serious injury has emerged in the literature over the more than five decades compounds like Ritalin have been in use. However, critics note most of the studies have lasted no more than a few years so no one knows for sure just how helpful -- or harmful -- they may turn out to be for the growing number of children who take them for far longer.

"Stimulant trials (have) proven short-term efficacy and safety, (but) there are very few long-term safety and efficacy trials," noted Dr. John Walkup, deputy director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.

Used alone, the pharmaceuticals do not appear to offer long-range benefits, scientists say.

"They don't improve an ADHD child's outcome in adolescence and adulthood," said William Pelham Jr., distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Center for Children and Families at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He helped develop the medicines Concerta and Adderall and conducted numerous trials involving other ADHD stimulant drugs, including the initial testing of a new methylphenidate skin patch.

His studies, some funded by pharmaceutical companies, have shown behavior therapy in combination with drugs is the most effective treatment and lessens the risk of drug side effects.

"I remain concerned that the medications are used too frequently (nearly 5 percent of children in the United States are medicated with one of these drugs), at doses that are unnecessarily high (three times higher than needed), and for much too long a duration for most children (years rather than months)," Pelham said.

Rather, he advocates that behavioral therapy be used as the first-line treatment of ADHD.

"(Drugs) should be used as adjunctive treatments for children for whom behavioral treatments are insufficient, they should be used at the lowest possible dose, and they should be administered only as long as necessary," he advised.

Next: Coping with confounders.

(Editors' Note: This series on ADHD is based on a review of hundreds of reports and a survey of more than 200 specialists.)

I just heard on CBC radio that they all appeared in court and pleaded with the judge for House arrest.

I guess over 130 people showed up. From what I'm told? I guess that he was a very ignorant Judge.

Will justice prevail??? Lets watch and see!!!!

I still say that all past cases this convicted Judge was involded with should be investigated.

Miramichi hospital execs face sentencingLast updated Mar 29 2006 08:58 AM ASTCBC NewsFour prominent members of the Miramichi community will be sentenced Wednesday for defrauding the Miramichi Hospital of nearly a million dollars.

The men, including former provincial court judge Drew Stymiest, were convicted last February of 39 counts of fraud and breach of trust.

The Crown prosecutor has said he'll seek lengthy prison sentences for two of the men. Stymiest was found guilty of the most counts and will be sentenced for 20 charges. John Tucker, the former hospital president and CEO, was found guilty of 17 charges.